Look, this is in my top 3 favourite VR games, so I'm gonna leave a much longer review later.
But for now I just want my thumbs-up to count. So let me make this short:
The reason [i]BLARP![/i] is so cool is that it's one of those games that can only exist in VR. There's no way to have this sort of gameplay in a flatscreen 3D game. You'd have to go all the way back to 2D to have even an approximation (something that would be sort of like Particle Mace.)
In Blarp, you corral an ever-growing number of floating eyeballs, in an ever-growing room, twirling them around like a bolas, or a bunch of yo-yos. With the analog range of the Vive's trigger, you can pull them in to you with varying force, which you can also offset by swinging them around. Just make sure you don't let any of them actually touch your hand, or it's instant game over. Your other hand has an extendable shield to help you keep them in check (I never use it.)
The aim is to swing and release them to hit randomly placed floating targets that level you up. You keep leveling up, adding an eyeball each time and seeing the room get bigger and bigger.
As the swarm of eyeballs tethered to your hand grows and grows, it becomes easier to throw them in the general direction of the target and trust that one of them will hit it, but it also gets more difficult to maneuver them around without one of them touching your hand. Add to this the fact that some of the eyeballs are smaller and move much faster (either the new ones, or the old ones, I'm not sure.)
There are a number of indicators to help you play. The eyeballs are linked to your hand by smart tethers that let you know how far each ball is just by looking at the dashes on the tether. The dashes also dynamically change as you exert a pull with the trigger. It's very intuitive and makes it easy to manage a huge number of eyeballs without having to look at all of them - just look at your hand and the opacity and length of the tether dashes. There are also audio cues to help you, for instance, locate the floating targets without hassle.
Let's talk about the visuals and audio. Cabbibo, the developer, is fond of psychedelic shaders and abstract dynamically generated music. The screenshots in the store page give you an idea of how trippy the game looks. It's rather ugly in screenshots, but in motion you see how gorgeous it is: there are layers and layers of hidden fields, that you peek at when looking the wakes behind the eyeballs, or the mat under your feet, or your controllers. The walls of the room ripple and flex satisfyingly when you smack the eyeballs into them. The eyes themselves each emit a sound sample, growing into a cacophony that's pleasing yet overpowering.
This is pure VR arcade fun. The sense of progression is palpable, the gameplay simple but deep and compelling.
I would improve a few things. Have more colour coordination rather than the vomity scheme, while maintaining the effects. Left handed mode. A checkpoint or extra life every few 5 or 10 levels.
Okay, this review ended up much longer than I planned. I love this game so much. It's ridiculously low priced, and it's such a unique and intuitive experience. Please give it a try.
